GUTTER-PRESS DEBATES

Revolution, as though there hadn't been civil war, oppres-
sion, and persecution in "every age. All this is silly enough;
but it is quite as absurd for the Courrier to pose as my
champion, and the defender of my cause, in the interests of
Champfort, Diderot, and the Encyclopaedists. Is it too
much to ask that, if they are allowed to attack each other
with as many bad arguments as they like, they should
at least keep off current questions? Everybody reads the
Journal, and if it does do the government harm, we don't
need the Courrier to tell us all about it beforehand. I have no
wish to start the charge of lese-majeste again: I attach no
importance to these gutter-press debates. But I won't let
any paper speak of the Bourbons, or of the present dynasty,
as the (Courrier does. Can't it defend its case without bringing
in the government? A man can be as atheistical as Lalande,
as religious as Portalis, or as famous a philosopher as
Regnaud, without being any less a supporter of the govern-
ment, and a good Frenchman. Then why in the world should
we allow the papers to go and tell these men that they are
bad citizens? That is the kind of thing that Brothers and
Friends does; indeed, if it said what it really thinks, you
would find its own little set proclaimed as my only friends.
The clergy, I suppose, and the 20 million devout Catholics,
all belong to the ancien regme!

The first time this paper mentions the Bourbons, or
my interests, suppress it. As for the Journal des Debats, there
can be no doubt that it pushes partisanship to the verge of
persecution. The time will come when I shall take steps
to put this paper, which is the only one that people read in
France, into more reasonable and less impulsive hands.
Party spirit is dead, and I can only regard it as a calamity
that less than a dozen scoundrels, without an ounce of talent
or genius among them, should be constantly raking up
accusations against the most respectable men in the country.
But my interest in the matter is purely literary. Keep the
papers within limits; forbid them to mention either the
Bourbons or the Napoleons.

[CORRESP., rv, 12285.]

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